Package Dates

I think you're pretty much preaching to the choir on this. Perhaps contact your local congress person for actual change?

 

This topic has been pounded to death over the years.
Generally yes, I much prefer to know just how old the beer I'm getting is. Some will handle age better than others (even IPAs; one highly rated IPA is as good 8 - 9 months later as it is fresh)
but I want to know how old so I can judge for myself whether it;s too old or not.

 

Whoa! Which IPA would that be?

Cheers!

 

Heady Topper. I got a case one time around labor day that year, and had most of it fairly fresh, but one 4-pack out of it snuck into hiding, and I only found it the next spring. It hadn't fallen off too much, if at all, in that time - it was in a cool cellar for the time, but not deep-freeze, lagering temps.

 

SN Hoppy beers hold up well over time. I would not hesitate to grab a 4 month old IPA from them.

Enjoy

 

I'd add my own pet peeve, which is a datecode that's an indecipherable smear. The ones that are on the "shoulder" on the bottom part of the can seemed to be the worst. Next on my little list are ones printed in black ink on the neck of a brown bottle.

 

When I pick up a six-pack of bottles where the dating is like this I just put the beer back on the shelf. It seems 'clear' to me that the brewery really doesn't want me to read the bottle on dates so I make the 'clear' choice to not purchase the product.

Non-cheers to obfuscation!

 

As others have said, this has been beaten to death over the years. Although, I agree with you. Particularly because I buy six pack, make-your-own samplers, often times retailers will throw their old beer in there so I have to be careful. Especially with IPAs you don't know if you're getting a fresh or old beer, because I've found both. In the past I've advocated for standardization of "packaged dates" rather than "drink-by" dates because then it's rather an objective date the beer was brewed and it puts more knowledge, but also well-deserved responsibility, on the buyer to buy fresh beer.

 

How do you determine when a beer was brewed by the packaging date? Some beers are bottled/canned/racked a few weeks after brewing, lagers traditionally weren't packaged for many weeks to several months after brewing (some still are but few US brewers publicize the length of their lagering period) and there are ales that spent many months to years in aging tanks.

Why is it the "responsibility" ("well deserved", no less?) of beer drinkers to monitor beer freshness? The industry, including brewers, distributors and retailers, considers it the responsibility of wholesale distributors.

Should a buyer interested in fresh beer always check the date code? Sure, but they are merely double-checking for the success or, all too frequently, the failure of the distributors, which should also be monitored by both the brewery's reps and the retailers, if they have any pride in their business.

 

I am not one to question anyone's experience with a beer.

I think it is fair to mention, though, that your experience with Heady doesn't match my own. In fact, two month old Heady already is fading strongly. I've had (too much) opportunity to taste old Heady due to I always was saving some for friends, or for yeast harvest, that ended up forgotten in back of fridge, and that is my experience.

 

The only Wholesale Distributors that have so called "pride" are those who partner with AB and their "pride" is restricted to those products.

They are maintaining the beer freshness of AB beers like Budweiser since they are contractually obligated to do so and AB monitors the situation to ensure that the Wholesale Distributors are complying to their contractual obligations.

Cheers!

 

I bring along a lighted 30x magnifying glass when shopping for Lagunitas.

 

With you 100%....if a hoppy beer doesn't have package date on it, I'm not buying it. Passed up a few I was interested in last week for that reason.

 

It absolutely should not be solely the responsibility of beer consumers to monitor freshness. However, breweries seem either not interested on not capable of leaning on distributors to do this, and distributors seem entirely disinterested in doing so.

I wholly do not understand how breweries think that letting old beer sit on shelves is not bad practice. I'm not talking about pulling 3-month old IPAs - but I am talking about pulling 9-month or year-old ones. Given that the consumer not checking dates when purchasing is probably a casual consumer, it's giving them a degraded version of your product that they (not unfairly) assume was meant to taste that way.

 

With the exception of AB partner Wholesale Distributors and AB products that is definitely the case, unfortunately.

Cheers!

 

I do not buy cans/bottles without a date code unless I know it was recently released (with definition of recently dependent on style).

 

Look.
Just don't buy your beer at the gas station C-Store.
Problem solved.

Cheers

 

But, but... every gas station in Wisconsin has a great selection of New Glarus beers! And they're the closest retailers to the state line!

 

I just need to add this anecdote as to the futility of the retailer/distro situation: I actually saw multiple bottles of Stone 6th Anniversary Porter re-release dated April 2016 on shelves this September at a BevMo in SoCal. Had to take a photo because it seemed so absurd. I know it's a BevMo and all...but 4 years old, 50 miles from the brewery in your (Stone) home market, when you (Stone) ostensibly control your own distribution?

Think of that: 4 years of being light-struck. 4 years of temp swings. 4 years of who knows what else. How could any brewery look at that and think it's a good representation of their beer to be selling at full value?

In that situation it seems like the only party doing the right thing in regards to package dating is the consumer...by looking at that date and walking on by.